==== ====For real weight loss results, Stop Dieting, Start Eating and Start Livinghttp://tinyurl.com/7thcot2==== ====Almost everyone knows someone who has used a low carb diet. They have used it themselveshad a friend use it or are getting ready to use it . Are these diets magic? Are they safe? Can Ireally eat all of the cheese and meat I want ? Will I die if I go into ketosis?These are just a few common questions I hear in regards to questions that concern low carb diets.In this series of articles I will present readers with scientific facts and my practical observations forimplications concerning low carb diets. Some low carb supporters will not like what I will have tosay. Some low carb haters will not like what I have to say. The objective of these articles are toeducate readers on the practical implications of low carb dieting. Some will be offended and somewill say how can that be. Either way sit back and enjoy as I attempt to shed light on the highlytalked about topic - low carb diets (ketogenic diets)I have provided a brief overview of some the topics that will be discussed in this series of articles.What type of changes occur while using low carb dietsDo low carb diets make me meanDo low carb diets spare muscleCan I gain weight on a low carb dietHow much weight can I expect to loseCan this diet help my medical conditionDifferent types of low carb dietsWhy you need to cycle higher days of carbsWho needs low carb dietsAre they safe for childrenAre they beneficial for athletesThe topics mentioned above are just a few that will be addressed in Low Carb Dieting.Before we move any further let me introduce the word ketogenic. Must of you reading this article
are probably familiar with the world as it implies low carb or restriction of carb intake. Simply putfor our purposes the words ketogenic and low carb are synonymous. A couple of other commentsI would like to make before we move on. This comment is for Low Carb supporters that swear ofall vegetables and fruits. Get on medline.com and do some research. Go to the library and lookthrough some journals. A complete diet for long term use needs to incorporate greens and somefruits to be healthy. A short term diet devoid of fruits and vegetables might not be that bad, butrejecting greens and any fruits for life is a bad idea.This comment is for the low carb haters. One of the number one reasons most of America is fat isbecause of chronically high insulin levels. Which is primarily contributed to excessive carb intake.Dont get me wrong I am not blaming high carbohydrate intake on all of our obesity problems. Ishould probably say excessive and the wrong types of carbohydrate at the wrong times are theproblem. At the same time the answer is not to eat all of the saturated fat we can find : which cancontribute to insulin insensitivity, elevated TGs, increased lipogenesis and digestive problems.What is a ketogenic diet? A diet that causes ketone bodies to be produced by the liver, and shiftsthe bodys metabolism away from glucose in favor of fat burning. A ketogenic diet restrictscarbohydrates below a certain level (generally 100 per day). The ultimate determinant of whethera diet is ketogenic or not is the presence or absence of carbohydrate. Protein and fat intake vary.Contrary to poplar belief eating fat is not what causes ketosis. In the past starvation diets wereused often to induce ketosis. I will repeat myself again and say lack of carbohydrate or presenceof ultimately determines if the diet is ketogenic.In most eating plans the body runs on a mixture of protein, fats and carbohydrates. Whencarbohydrates are severely restricted and glycogen storage (glucose in muscle and liver) isdepleted the body begins to utilize other means to provide energy. FFA (free fatty acids) can beused to provide energy, but the brain and nervous system are unable to use FFAs. Although thebrain can use ketone bodies for energy.Ketone bodies are by products of incomplete FFA breakdown in the liver. Once they begin toaccumulate fast and reach a certain level they are released , accumulated in the bloodstream andcause a state called ketosis. As this occurs there is a decrease in glucose production andutilization. There is also less reliance on protein to meet energy requirements by the body.Ketogenic diets are often referred to as protein sparing as they help to spare LBM whiled droppingbody fat.In regards to ketogenic diets there are two primary hormones- insulin, glucagon that need to beconsidered. Insulin can be described as a storage hormone as its job is to take nutrients out of thebloodstream and carry them to target tissues. Insulin carries glucose from the blood to the liverand muscles, and it carries FFA from the blood into adipose tissue (stored fat triglyceride). On theother hand glucagon breaks down glycogen stores (especially in the liver) and releases them intothe blood.When carbs are restricted or removed insulin levels drop while glucagon levels rise. This causesenhanced FFA release from fat cells, and increased FFA burning in the liver. This acceleratedburning of FFA in the liver is what leads to ketosis. There are a number of other hormonesinvolved with this process as well.
In general we refer to three different types of ketogenic diets.1) STANDARD KETOGENIC DIET- A diet containing l00 or less grams of carbohydrates isreferred to as STANDARD KETOGENIC DIET2)TARGETED KETOGENIC DIET- consuming carbohydrates around exercise, to sustainperformance without affecting ketosis.3)CYCLICAL KETOGENIC DIET- alternates periods of ketogenic dieting with periods of highcarbohydrate intakeThe Beginning of Ketogenic dietsOriginally ketogenic diets were used to treat obesity and epilepsy. In general ketogenic diets aresimilar to starvation diets in the responses that occur in the body. More specifically these twostates can be referred to as starvation ketosis and dietary ketosis. These similarities have led tothe development of modern day ketogenic diets.Ketogenic dieting has been used for years in the treatment of childhood epilepsy. In the early1900s times of total fasting was used to treat seizures. This caused numerous health problemsand could not be sustained indefinitely.Due to the impracticalities and health problems occurring with starvation ketogenic dietsresearchers began to look for a way to mimic starvation ketosis while consuming food. Theydetermined that a diet consisting of high fat, low carb and minimal protein could sustain growthand maintain ketosis for a long period of time. This led to the birth of the original ketogenic diet in1921 by Dr. Wilder. Dr Wilders diet controlled pediatric epilepsy in many cases where drugs andother treatments failed.New epilepsy drugs were invented during the 30s, 40s and 50s and ketogenic diets fell to thewayside. These new drugs lead to almost disappearance of ketogenic diets during this time. Afew modified ketogenic diets were tried during this time such as the MCT (medium chaintriglycerides) diets, but they were not welly accepted.In 1994 the ketogenic diet as a treatment for epilepsy was re-discovered. This came about in thestory of Charlie a 2yr old with seizures that could not be controlled with mediacions or othertreatment including brain surgery. Charlies father had found reference to the diet through hisresearch and ended up at John Hopkins medical center.Charlies seizures were completely controlled as long as he was on the diet. The huge success ofthe diet prompted Charlies father to start the Charlie foundation. The foundation has producedseveral videos, and published the book The Epilepsy Diet Treatment: An Introduction to theKetogenic diet. The foundation has sponsored conferences to train physicians and dietians toimplement the diet. The exact mechanisms of how the ketogenic diet works to control epilepsy arestill unknown, the diet continues to gain acceptance as an alternative to drug therapy.ObesityKetogenic diets have been used for at least a century for weight loss. Complete starvation wasstudied often including the research of Hill, who fasted a subject for 60 days to examine theeffects. The effects of starvation were very successful in regards to treatment of the morbidly
obese as rapid weight loss occurred. Other characteristics attributed to ketosis, such as appetitesuppression and sense of well being, made fasting even more attractive for weight loss.Extremely obese patients have been fasted for up to one year and given nothing but vitamins andminerals.The major problem with complete starvation diets is the loss of body protein, primarily from muscletissue. Protein losses decrease as starvation contines, but up to one half of the total weight losscan be contributed to muscle and water loss.In the early 1970s Protein Sparing Modified Fasts were introduced. These dietsallowed the benefits of ketosis to continue while preventing losses of bodily proteins.They are still used today under medical supervisionIn the early 70s Dr. Atkins introduced Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution With millions ofcopies Sold the diet generated a great deal of interest. Dr. Atkins suggested a diet limitedin carbohydrate but unlimited in protein and fat. He promoted the diet as it would allowrapid weight loss, no hunger and unlimited amounts of protein and fat. He offered justenough research to allow the diet recognition. Although most of the evidencesupporting the diet was questionable.During the 1980s Michael Zumpano and Dan Duchaine introduced two of the earliestCKDs THE REBOUND DIET for muscle gain and then the modified version calledTHE ULTIMATE DIET for fat loss. Neither diet became very popular. This was likelydue to the difficulty of the diet and the taboo of eating high fat.In the early 90s Dr. Dipasquale introduced the ANABOLIC DIET . This diet promoted 5days of high- fat-high protein-low carb consumption whle eating high carbs and virtuallyanything you wanted for two days. The diet was proposed to induce a metabolic shiftwithin the five days of eating low carbs (30 or less). The metabolic shift occurred as yourbody switched from being a sugar buring machine to a fat-burning machine.A few years later Dan Duchaine released the book UNDERGROUND BODYOPUS: MILITIANTWEIGHT LOSS AND RECOMPOSITION . The book included his CKD diet which he calledBODYOPUS. The diet was more specified than the Anabolic Diet and gave exerciserecommendations as well as the basics concerning exercise physiology. Most bodybuilders foundthe diet very hard to follow. The carb load phase required eating every 2 hrs and certain foodswere prescribed. I personally loved the book, but felt the difficulty of the diet made it less popular.In this authors opinion Ducahines book is a must read for anyone interested in Nutrition.Ketogenic Diets have been used for years to treat specific conditions such as obesity andchildhodd epilepsy. The effects of these diets have proven beneficial in a number of these welldocumented cases, but for some reason when we mention any type of low carb diet (ketogenicdiet) people begin to tell us about how their doctor or friend told them it would kill them or how thatdiet was shown to damage the liver or kidneys. Keep in mind epileptic children have been inketosis for up to three years and shown no negative effects; quiet the opposite. The weight loss inmorbidly obese patients has been tremendous and the health benefits numerous. Maybe beforecoming to the conclusion that all types of ketogenic diets are bad other factors need to be
considered such as activity levels, type of ketogenic diet, length of ketogenic diet, past eatingexperience, purpose of ketogeninc diet, individual body type and response to various eating plans,current physical condition, and quality of food while following ketogenic diet. As you can see thereare numerous factors that come into play when saying a diet is good or bad. I think people shouldtake the time look at the research and speak with various authorities in regards to low carb dietsbefore drawing conclusions from the they says.Relevant research in regards to ketogenic dietingEfficacy and safety of the ketogenic diet for intractable childhood epilepsy: Korea multicentricexperienceChul Kang H, Joo Kim Y, Wook Kim D, Dong Kim H,Dept of pediatrics, Epilepsy center, Inje Univ Coll of Med, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Seoul KoreaThe purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety of the ketogenic diet, and to evaluate theprognosis of the patients after successful discontinuation of the diet in infants, children andadolescents with refractory epilepsy. The study looked at patients who had been treated with KDduring 1995 through 2003 at Korean multicenters. The outcomes of the 199 patients enrolled inthe study at 6 and 12 months were as follows: 68% and 46% of patients remained on the diet,58% and 41% showed a reduction in seizures, including 33% and 25% who became seizure free.The complications were mild during the study, but 5 patients died during the KD. No significantvariables were related to the efficacy, but those with symptomatic and partial epilepsies showedmore frequent relapse after completion of the diet. The researchers concluded the KD is a safeand effective alternative therapy for intractable epilepsy in Korea, although the customary dietcontains substantially less fat than traditional Western diets, but life-threatening complicationsshould be monitored closely during follow up.ReferenceMcDoanld, L (1998) The Ketogenic Diet. Lyle McDonald.Copyright 2005 Jamie HaleJamie Hale is a writer for numerous fitness and sports publications. He is also the author of fourbooks and the owner of Maxcondition.com.Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jamie_Hale
==== ====For real weight loss results, Stop Dieting, Start Eating and Start Livinghttp://tinyurl.com/7thcot2==== ====